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My goodness, Lynne... deep breaths! You'll survive this thread! :)
If you define your UI's controls in front matter, you can call them
"Expansion Controls" if you want. Or "Expanders". Or nothing at all.
"Twisty" means nothing top *me* ("WHAT?!?"). "Drop-down" is confusing
because drop-down lists auto-collapse after selection (slightly
different interaction from disclosure controls).
To skirt the problem--and support multiple variants like arrows,
triangles, plus/minus, or chevrons--I typically write "Click the
[graphic of symbol] ([description of graphic]) icon to [expand |
collapse] the [UI element] area." EX:
"Click the + (plus) icon to expand the Program Files folder."
That way, you needn't mention them as a class at all; BUT *as a
class*... they're "progressive-disclosure controls." Perhaps if more
writers referred to design guidelines for terminology, that wouldn't be
an unusual term today, lo, these decades after the first creation of
them! Do you distinguish combo boxes from drop-down lists? Radio
buttons from check boxes? In 1980, would anyone comprehend that
distinction without some explanation (or experimentation in the UI)?
Ignorance is temporary; bias is eternal. DWYW;
David
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: What do you call the triangle-twist-open thingie?
From: Lynne Wright <[1]Lynne -dot- Wright -at- tritech -dot- com>
Date: Wed, December 09, 2015 10:34 am
To: David Artman <[2]david -at- davidartman -dot- com>, John G
<[3]john -at- garisons -dot- com>,
"[4]techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <[5]techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Oh no. No.
"progressive disclosure control" is meaningless jargon to the average
person.
You tell someone "click the progressive disclosure control icon" and
they'd be: "WHAT?!?!?!"
-----Original Message-----
From: [6]techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=tritech -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[[7]mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=tritech -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
] On Behalf Of David Artman
Sent: December-09-15 10:15 AM
To: John G; [8]techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: What do you call the triangle-twist-open thingie?
They are "progressive disclosure controls" or "progressive-disclosure
controls" if you want to fix Microsoft's punctuation:
[1][9]https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dn742409
(v=
vs.85).aspx
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: What do you call the triangle-twist-open thingie?
From: John G <[2][10]john -at- garisons -dot- com>
Date: Tue, December 08, 2015 2:10 pm
To: "[3][11]techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com"
<[4][12]techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Many web sites these days use a triangle-shaped icon ... click it, and
it
rotates 90 degrees to display something (text, links, etc.) that was
previously hidden.
I call them "twist controls" but one of my SMEs says they are
"accordion"
controls.
What do my fellow tech whirlers refer to these as?
JG
